Sanding Devices and Related Methods

ABSTRACT

Sanding devices disclosed herein include a rigid member, a flexible member permanently coupled with a bottom of the rigid member and with a portion of a top of the rigid member, and a sanding member permanently coupled with the flexible member. In implementations the sanding member consists of sandpaper. The flexible member may be shaped substantially similar to, or identical to, the sanding member in at least two dimensions. A front of the rigid member may have a rounded end and the rigid member may be tapered and larger in front than in back. The flexible member may form a pair of upper wings extending outward past sides of the rigid member at the top of the rigid member, a pair of lower wings extending outward past sides of the rigid member at the bottom of the rigid member, and a tail extending past the back of the rigid member.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This document claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 62/626,045, entitled “Sanding Devices and RelatedMethods,” naming as first inventor Anthany Jacques, which was filed onFeb. 3, 2018, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated entirelyherein by reference.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

Aspects of this document relate generally to sanding devices or, inother words, items used to sand wood and other items.

2. Background Art

Sandpaper and some devices for holding sandpaper (during a sandingoperation) exist in the art. Sandpaper exists in a variety of textures,or grits, ranging from rougher grits to smoother grits. These may beused to sand devices to a first, rougher texture, and then gradually toa smoother texture by using finer grit sandpaper.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of sanding devices may include: a rigid member; a flexiblemember permanently coupled with a bottom of the rigid member andpermanently coupled with at least a portion of a top of the rigidmember; and a sanding member permanently coupled with the flexiblemember; wherein a largest planar surface of the flexible member islarger than a largest planar surface of the rigid member.

Embodiments of sanding devices may include one or more or all of thefollowing:

The sanding member may be, or may include, sandpaper.

The flexible member may be shaped identical to the sanding member in atleast two dimensions.

The flexible member may be permanently coupled with less than half ofthe top of the rigid member.

A front of the rigid member may have a rounded end and the rigid membermay be tapered from the front to a back of the rigid member so that thefront of the rigid member is thicker than the back of the rigid member.

The flexible member may have a longest length longer than a longestlength of the rigid member.

The flexible member may have a width perpendicular to the longest lengthof the flexible member, the rigid member may have a width perpendicularto the longest length of the rigid member, and the width of the flexiblemember may be greater than the width of the rigid member.

The flexible member may include a pair of upper wings extending outwardpast sides of the rigid member at the top of the rigid member.

The flexible member may include a pair of lower wings extending outwardpast sides of the rigid member at the bottom of the rigid member.

The flexible member may include a tail extending past the back of therigid member.

Embodiments of sanding devices may include: a rigid member; a flexiblemember permanently coupled with a bottom of the rigid member and atleast a portion of a top of the rigid member; and sandpaper permanentlycoupled with the flexible member; wherein the flexible member is shapedsubstantially similar to the sandpaper in at least two dimensions.

Embodiments of sanding devices may include one or more or all of thefollowing:

The flexible member may have a width perpendicular to a longest lengthof the flexible member, the rigid member may have a width perpendicularto a longest length of the rigid member, the width of the flexiblemember may be greater than the width of the rigid member, and theflexible member may include a pair of lower wings extending outward pastsides of the rigid member at the bottom of the rigid member.

A front of the rigid member may include a rounded end and the rigidmember may have a taper from the front to a back end of the rigid memberso that the front of the rigid member is thicker than the back of therigid member.

The longest length of the flexible member may be greater than thelongest length of the rigid member, and the flexible member may includea tail extending past the back of the rigid member.

The flexible member may include a pair of upper wings extending outwardpast the sides of the rigid member at the top of the rigid member.

A pair of recesses may be formed in the upper wings.

The flexible member may be formed of a polymeric foam.

A ridge may be coupled to, and extend upwards from, the top of the rigidmember.

Embodiments of sanding devices may include: a rigid member; a flexiblemember permanently coupled with a bottom of the rigid member andpermanently coupled with less than half of a top of the rigid memberusing an adhesive; and sandpaper permanently coupled with a bottom ofthe flexible member using an adhesive; wherein the flexible member isshaped identical to the sandpaper in at least two dimensions; whereinthe flexible member has a longest length greater than a longest lengthof the rigid member so that the flexible member forms a tail extendingpast a back of the rigid member; and wherein the flexible member has awidth perpendicular to the longest length of the flexible member,wherein the rigid member has a width parallel with the width of theflexible member, and wherein the width of the flexible member is greaterthan the width of the rigid member so that the flexible member forms apair of upper wings extending outward past sides of the rigid member atthe top of the rigid member and a pair of lower wings extending outwardpast the sides of the rigid member at the bottom of the rigid member.

Embodiments of sanding devices may include one or more or all of thefollowing:

The rigid member may be tapered so that a front of the rigid member isthicker than the back of the rigid member.

General details of the above-described embodiments, and otherembodiments, are given below in the DESCRIPTION, the DRAWINGS, and theCLAIMS.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be discussed hereafter using reference to the includeddrawings, briefly described below, wherein like designations refer tolike elements:

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of three implementations of sandingdevices;

FIG. 2 is another top perspective view of the sanding devices of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side perspective view of two of the sanding devices of FIG.1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom perspective view of the sanding devices of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the topmost sanding device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the topmost sanding device of FIG. 1being used to sand an item;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the topmost sanding device of FIG. 1being used to sand another item;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the topmost sanding device of FIG. 1being used to sand another item;

FIG. 9 is a top perspective view of another implementation of a sandingdevice;

FIG. 10 is another top perspective view of the sanding device of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a side view of the sanding device of FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a side view of another implementation of a sanding device;and

FIG. 13 is a close-up view of a tail of the sanding device of FIG. 12.

DESCRIPTION

Implementations/embodiments disclosed herein (including those notexpressly discussed in detail) are not limited to the particularcomponents or procedures described herein. Additional or alternativecomponents, assembly procedures, and/or methods of use consistent withthe intended sanding devices and related methods may be utilized in anyimplementation. This may include any materials, components,sub-components, methods, sub-methods, steps, and so forth.

Referring now generally to FIGS. 1-8, in implementations sanding devices(devices) 100, 150, and 180 each include a rigid member 102, a flexiblemember 112 coupled with the rigid member, and a sanding member 126coupled with the flexible member.

In the implementation shown in the figures the rigid member comprises astrip of wood (it is in fact a wood shim), though in otherimplementations it could be formed of some other material, such as bynon-limiting example a strip of rigid polymer (such as an extrudedpolymer). The rigid member is shown having a roughly rectangularcuboidal shape with a rounded front end, though in other implementationsit could have more rounded edges all along the rigid member. Thestraight edges make for ease of construction as many rigid members couldbe sawed or cut from a single panel of wood or rigid plastic. Theflexible member shown is formed of a soft polymeric foam which iscompressible, though in other implementations it could be formed of someother flexible and/or compressible material such as a non-foam polymer.The sanding member in the implementation shown is a portion of sandpaperthat is shaped and sized to match the shape and size of the flexiblemember (indeed in implementations it is shaped identical to the flexiblemember in two dimensions, length and width, though it may have adifferent thickness). The sanding member could comprise any grit ortexture or configuration of sandpaper. For example in implementationssanding devices could be sold in kits including one sanding devicehaving sandpaper of a coarser grit (such as 80 grit), one sanding devicehaving sandpaper of a medium grit (such as 120 grit), one sanding devicehaving sandpaper of a fine grit (such as 180 grit), and so forth.

In other implementations the sanding member could comprise loose sandinggrit that is coupled directly with the flexible member using anadhesive, though using sandpaper on top of the flexible member allowsfor ease of construction. In implementations in which the sanding membercomprises sandpaper the sandpaper is glued to the flexible member usingan adhesive. The adhesive is not shown in the drawings, due to its thinsize, but the practitioner of ordinary skill in the art will be able toselect adhesives useful for adhering the back of a piece of sandpaperwith the flexible member based on the material of the flexible memberand the material which forms the back of the sandpaper.

In implementations the rigid member could have some design element, suchas made to look like snake skin, or having some coloring or design,etc., or it could have some texture for ease of gripping it such asraised bumps or lines or the like. It could also have a soft outertexture such as having a soft polymer attached to the rigid portion onthe top of the rigid member (and/or sides of the rigid member) where theuser grips it.

With regards to the flexible member and sanding member, by non-limitingexample a sheet of polymeric foam or other flexible material could beglued to a sheet of sandpaper and then multiple flexible/sanding memberscould be cut or stamped out of the composite structure, then adhered tothe rigid member using an adhesive and bent around the front end of therigid member as seen in FIG. 1 to form the sanding device. Othermanufacturing methods are possible.

In the implementations shown the flexible member is coupled with therigid member using an adhesive. Other coupling mechanisms could beutilized in other implementations, such as staples, but an adhesiveallows for a uniform coupling of the flexible member to the rigid memberand allows for the coupling to be uniformly spread out over much of theflexible member.

Referring briefly to FIG. 5, it may be seen that the rigid member has afront 104, a back 106, a top 108, and a bottom 110, as well as sides 111(only one side being visible in FIG. 5). FIG. 5 also shows that theflexible member has a top 114 and a bottom 116, so that the top 114 ofthe flexible member is glued to the bottom of the rigid member, and thesanding member is glued to the bottom of the flexible member. FIG. 5also shows that there is a slight taper in the rigid member so that thefront of the rigid member is thicker than the back of the rigid member.In other implementations this taper could be reversed or could beabsent, according to the desired end use.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it may be seen that for each sanding device theflexible member and sanding member are sized so that they are slightlywider than the width of the rigid member, and that the compositeflexible/sanding members are positioned in a centered position(horizontally centered with respect to FIG. 2) when coupled with therigid member so that roughly equally-sized wings extend beyond eitherside of the rigid member. Because the flexible and sanding members wraparound the front 104 of the rigid member, the wings therefore form upperwings 118 at the top 108 of the rigid member and lower wings 120 at thebottom 110 of the rigid member.

Each flexible member is seen to also have a tail 124 which extendsbeyond the back of the rigid member. Accordingly, due to the way thatthe sanding member and flexible member are coupled together, and due tothe way that the flexible member is coupled with the rigid member, thecomposite flexible/sanding member wraps around the front of the rigidmember to form a rounded end 128 (as pointed out in FIG. 7) all alongthe front of the device, and upper and lower wings extend outward at thetop and bottom of the device past the sides of the rigid member, withthe tail extending below the back of the rigid member at the back of thedevice.

The figures show that in each implementation the sanding member andflexible member are shaped and sized to have matching shapes so that theentire bottom of the flexible member is covered with the sanding member.In other implementations this could be different—for example the sandingmember could cover less than all of the bottom of the flexible member(or could extend beyond the sides of the flexible member so that it islarger than the flexible member in some dimension(s)), but making thetwo the same size and shape results in ease of construction as indicatedto some extent above, as a flexible material and sandpaper can beadhered together and then composite flexible/sanding members quickly cutor stamped out.

FIG. 2 also shows that in some implementations recesses 122 are formedin the upper wings so that the wings are essentially removed for aportion of the flexible/sanding member at the top of the rigid member.This may be included in some implementations for different ergonomics,the user's fingers being able to be placed in the recesses (i.e., therecesses essentially forming finger slots). In other implementations andin experimentation, however, since the upper wings are flexible a usermay still easily use the device while placing fingers over any portionof the wings and the wings will simply bend to conform to the user'sfingers.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective top view of three sanding devices (thebottommost version, device 180, has a sticker on the rigid device whichcould be replaced by a logo or some writing or the like or even anadvertisement or promotional sticker). FIG. 2 shows another perspectivetop view of the same three devices of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 shows a sideperspective view of two of the devices of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 shows a bottomperspective view of the three devices of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 shows a sideview of the device 100 of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 6-8 show the use of sanding device 100 (which methods andtechniques apply to other sanding devices disclosed herein) andillustrate the usefulness of the structure of the device. As may be seenin FIG. 6, the device may be used by pressing it flat down upon a flatsurface 130 and using the user's hand to move the device back and forth(front and back or side to side) or in a rounding motion, or in anyother sanding motion. In this way, the sanding device may be used toeasily sand a flat surface.

FIG. 7 shows the sanding device being used to sand an inner curvedsurface (which appears as an inner semi-circular portion) of a woodenpiece 132. As can be seen in the drawing, the lower wings, because theyare flexible, are conforming to the inner curved surface so that theinner curved surface can be easily sanded regardless of its roundedshape. The sides of the rigid member, however, also help with this typeof sanding function because they help to press the lower wings upagainst the inner curved surface. A surface need not be semi-circular tobenefit from this type of method, it could be any non-straight innercurve. The upper wings can also be used in a similar manner.

Also possible, though not shown in the photos, is the ability to use therounded end 128 of the device to sand curved or other non-straightportions of elements to be sanded.

The upper and lower wings are completely flexible so that they canconform either towards the rigid member (up until they abut against it)or away from the rigid member, as desired, for any sanding operation.

FIG. 8 shows the tail being used to sand an edge of a wooden piece 134.Because the tail is flexible, the user may grab the tail and conform itto the shape of the edge so that the tail completely wraps around theedge and the user is thus able to easily sand all sides of the edgesimultaneously. The tail could also be used to sand small elements whichrequire greater detail, or raised surfaces, or slots or small cavitiesor the like that are otherwise hard to access, and so forth.

Accordingly, because of the different portions of the sanding device, itis useful for sanding a variety of objects of different shapes andsizes. The rigid element provides a backing that is useful to hold andmove the device during sanding, and allows for pressure to be applied tothe sanding member and accordingly to the sanded item as needed, whilethe flexible tail and wings allow for the easy sanding of portions ofelements having difficult-to-sand surfaces, and the flexible memberprovides a way to couple the sanding member to the rigid member whileallowing the sanding member to also flex (but not rip or tear) duringuse. The use of flexible foam for the flexible member, inimplementations, also provides some cushion which facilitates lightsanding, such as the sanding of soft woods (such as balsa) or otherrelatively soft elements.

Referring now to FIGS. 9-11, another implementation of a sanding deviceis shown. Sanding device (device) 200 is similar the above-describeddevices in several ways. It includes the rigid member having a front,back, top, bottom, and sides. The flexible member is included and has atop and bottom along with upper and lower wings and a tail (in FIGS.9-10 device 200 is an example of a sanding device with a slightly longertail, giving an example of how the tail size may be varied according tothe desired end use). The sanding member is also included. The sandingmember, flexible member, and rigid member are coupled together in thesame way and configuration as described above for device 100. Device 200further includes the rounded end as with device 100.

One major difference between devices 200 and devices 100/150/180 is thatdevice 200 includes a ridge 202 centrally located along the longestlength of the top of the rigid member. The ridge in the implementationshown is formed from wood and is glued to the top of the main body ofthe rigid member, though in other implementations it could be nailed,stapled, screwed, etc., and in implementations in which the rigid memberis formed from a polymer the ridge could be extruded, molded, orotherwise formed together with the rest of the rigid member so that theridge is integrally formed therewith, or it could be formed separatelyand attached using an adhesive, or a melting bond, and so forth.

The ridge is useful for adding an additional gripping mechanism for theuser to hold while using the device for a sanding operation. The thumband one or more opposing fingers may grip opposite sides of the ridgefor additional grip and in implementations this may allow the user tomore easily maneuver the device as desired during sanding. The ridgemay, for example, allow more control when moving the sanding device fromside to side (in a direction perpendicular to the longest length of thedevice), and it may allow the user to hold fingers atop the top of therigid member where they are more out of the way of the sandingoperation. In implementations the ridge may also allow more controlduring a front and back, curved, circular, or other shaped sandingmotion.

The ridge may allow the user's fingers to be more distant from potentialsplinters or other items that are nearer to the sanding member.Additionally, when the user is performing a sanding operation whichutilizes the lower wings 120, the ridge allows the user's fingers to beup and out of the way of the lower wings so that the lower wings mayfreely bend and curve upwards towards the top of the rigid member duringthe sanding operation.

The ridge has a top 204, bottom 206, front 208, back 210, and two sides212 as depicted in the drawings, and the bottom of the ridge is attachedat the top of the rigid member. The front and back are seen to besloped. In other implementations the slopes could be absent so that theridge is a right rectangular cuboid shape, but in implementations theslope helps to ensure that there is not a sharp edge between the top andfront and between the top and back of the ridge. This may allow one ormore of the user's fingers to be in a comfortable resting position byconforming to the gentle slope of the front or back of the ridge duringa sanding operation since the front and back are generally not grippedduring sanding, though they may be used to provide forward or backwardpressure (while, in contrast, the 90-degree edge at the sides allows theuser to more firmly grip the sides with the user's fingers and if therewere a slope at the sides the user may not be able to grip the ridge asfirmly). The lack of a sharp edge at the front and back of the ridge mayalso reduce the potential for a cut or scrape of a user's finger duringsanding.

FIG. 12 shows a side view of another implementation of a sanding device.Sanding device (device) 300 is similar in many respects to theabove-described devices, including a rigid member 302 having a roundedfront 304, back 306, top 308, bottom 310, and sides 311. A flexiblemember 312 is also included, having a top 314 and bottom 316, andincluding upper wings, lower wings, and a tail as with the other devicesdescribed herein. Sanding member 326 is coupled with the flexiblemember. The main difference between device 300 and the above-describeddevices is that the rigid member has a greater taper from the front tothe back so that the front of the rigid member is thicker (i.e., as muchas twice the thickness or greater) of the back of the rigid member. Thisis just to illustrate that different tapers and shapes may be used forthe rigid members for various sanding operations.

FIG. 13 shows a close-up view of the tail of the flexible member 312which shows the top 314 of the flexible member, the bottom 316 of theflexible member, and the sanding member 326 which is glued to the bottomof the flexible member. The elements of FIG. 13 are not necessarilydrawn to scale, as the sanding member may be thinner or thicker relativeto the flexible member in implementations.

As seen in the drawings, the ability of the flexible member and sandingmember to form upper wings, lower wings, and the tail are due at leastin part to the surface area of the top of the flexible member beinglarger than the surface area of the bottom of the rigid member.Referring to FIG. 5, it may also be seen that when the sanding device isfully assembled the rigid member has a longest length 107 and that theflexible member has a longest length 123 that is longer than the longestlength of the rigid member, and that this allows the flexible member toform the tail. Referring to FIG. 2, it may also be seen that the top ofthe rigid member has a width 103, perpendicular with the longest lengthof the rigid member, and that the flexible member also has a width 113,perpendicular with the longest length of the flexible member, and thatthe width of the flexible member is greater than the width of the rigidmember, and that this allows the flexible member to form the upper wingsand lower wings.

It is described above that, in implementations, the sanding member iscoupled with a bottom of the flexible member. As used herein, the“bottom” of the flexible member is the same continuous surfaceregardless of how the flexible member is twisted or wrapped or bent sothat, referring to FIG. 5 for example, at the top of the sanding devicethe “bottom” of the flexible member is facing upward (referring to theupward direction of FIG. 5) and, at the bottom of the sanding device,the “bottom” of the flexible member is facing downward (referring to thedownward direction of FIG. 5). The “top” of the flexible member, as usedherein, has a similar meaning in that it refers to the same continuoussurface regardless of how that surface is twisted, turned, bent,wrapped, and so forth.

Referring to FIG. 2, it can be seen that the flexible member has alargest planar surface 115 which is larger than a largest planar surface105 of the rigid member. It is noted that “planar surface” is definedherein as a surface existing in only a single two-dimensional plane, sothat for example the largest surface of the flexible member exists onthe flat portion only, up until to the curved portion at the front ofthe sanding device (likewise with the largest planar surface of therigid member). It is also noted that the top and bottom of the rigidmember each comprises a largest planar surface of the rigid member(since the top and bottom are equally sized), and that there aresimilarly two largest planar surfaces of the flexible member, one on thetop and one on the bottom of the flexible member.

In the implementations shown the flexible member is permanently coupledwith less than a quarter of the top of the rigid member. In otherimplementations the flexible member may be coupled with otherpercentages of the top of the rigid member, such as more than half, lessthan half, less than 10%, less than 20%, less than 30%, less than 40%,less than 60%, less than 70%, and so forth.

The sanding members are disclosed herein as being, in implementations,identical to the flexible member in at least two dimensions. In otherimplementations the flexible member may be shaped only substantiallysimilar to the sanding member in at least two dimensions. By“substantially similar” it is meant that there is an overlap of at least75% of each with the other.

Although the sanding devices are shown herein sanding a wooden item,they may be used to sand any items of any material, includingcomposites, polymers, metals, ceramics, and so forth.

Because the sanding devices have such a simple construction and may bemade from inexpensive materials, in implementations they may bedisposable, so that a user simply uses the device until the grit is nolonger effective (or less effective than desired) and then simplyreplaces the entire sanding device with another sanding device.

The examples given herein of how to use the sanding devices are simplyrepresentative examples, and there may be other uses and examples ofusing the sanding devices that are not given herein but which arefacilitated by the structure and materials of the sanding devices.

The sanding devices disclosed herein may be useful for crafts and thelike where a user may not desire to purchase an entire package ofsandpaper and/or a sandpaper holder, but may simply want an easy-to-useand simple sanding device that is useful for sanding a variety ofmaterials and is useful for sanding objects of various shapes and sizes.

In implementations sanding devices accordingly include a rigid portionor body for a user to hold and a flexible sanding element which isattached to the rigid body but which extends beyond some of the edges ofthe rigid member so that the flexible nature of the portions extendingbeyond the rigid member may be used to sand portions of objects whichrequire a flexible sanding element.

Other implementations of sanding devices could be bigger, smaller,wider, skinner, longer, having a longer tail, having wider wings, havingno wings, having no tail, and so forth (though obviously removing thetail and/or wings removes the advantages described herein that thoseelements provide). In implementations the rigid member may be formed tohave rough edges for grip, or rounded off edges for the fingers of theuser to fit in. This may be especially easy to do if the rigid member isa molded plastic component.

In places where the phrase “one of A and B” is used herein, including inthe claims, wherein A and B are elements, the phrase shall have themeaning “A or B.” This shall be extrapolated to as many elements as arerecited in this manner, for example the phrase “one of A, B, and C”shall mean “A or B or C,” and so forth.

In places where the description above refers to specific embodiments ofsanding devices and related methods, one or more or many modificationsmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Detailsof any specific embodiment/implementation described herein may, whereverpossible, be applied to any other specific implementation/embodimentdescribed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sanding device, comprising: a rigid member; aflexible member permanently coupled with a bottom of the rigid memberand permanently coupled with at least a portion of a top of the rigidmember; and a sanding member permanently coupled with the flexiblemember; wherein a largest planar surface of the flexible member islarger than a largest planar surface of the rigid member.
 2. The sandingdevice of claim 1, wherein the sanding member consists of sandpaper. 3.The sanding device of claim 1, wherein the flexible member is shapedidentical to the sanding member in at least two dimensions.
 4. Thesanding device of claim 1, wherein the flexible member is permanentlycoupled with less than half of the top of the rigid member.
 5. Thesanding device of claim 1, wherein a front of the rigid member comprisesa rounded end and wherein the rigid member comprises a taper from thefront to a back of the rigid member so that the front of the rigidmember is thicker than the back of the rigid member.
 6. The sandingdevice of claim 1, wherein the flexible member comprises a longestlength longer than a longest length of the rigid member.
 7. The sandingdevice of claim 6, wherein the flexible member comprises a widthperpendicular to the longest length of the flexible member, wherein therigid member comprises a width perpendicular to the longest length ofthe rigid member, and wherein the width of the flexible member isgreater than the width of the rigid member.
 8. The sanding device ofclaim 1, wherein the flexible member comprises a pair of upper wingsextending outward past sides of the rigid member at the top of the rigidmember.
 9. The sanding device of claim 1, wherein the flexible membercomprises a pair of lower wings extending outward past sides of therigid member at the bottom of the rigid member.
 10. The sanding deviceof claim 1, wherein the flexible member comprises a tail extending pastthe back of the rigid member.
 11. A sanding device, comprising: a rigidmember; a flexible member permanently coupled with a bottom of the rigidmember and at least a portion of a top of the rigid member; andsandpaper permanently coupled with the flexible member; wherein theflexible member is shaped substantially similar to the sandpaper in atleast two dimensions.
 12. The sanding device of claim 11, wherein theflexible member comprises a width perpendicular to a longest length ofthe flexible member, wherein the rigid member comprises a widthperpendicular to a longest length of the rigid member, wherein the widthof the flexible member is greater than the width of the rigid member,and wherein the flexible member comprises a pair of lower wingsextending outward past sides of the rigid member at the bottom of therigid member.
 13. The sanding device of claim 12, wherein a front of therigid member comprises a rounded end and wherein the rigid membercomprises a taper from the front to a back end of the rigid member sothat the front of the rigid member is thicker than the back of the rigidmember.
 14. The sanding device of claim 12, wherein the longest lengthof the flexible member is greater than the longest length of the rigidmember, and wherein the flexible member comprises a tail extending pastthe back of the rigid member.
 15. The sanding device of claim 12,wherein the flexible member comprises a pair of upper wings extendingoutward past the sides of the rigid member at the top of the rigidmember.
 16. The sanding device of claim 15, further comprising a pair ofrecesses in the upper wings.
 17. The sanding device of claim 11, whereinthe flexible member comprises a polymeric foam.
 18. The sanding deviceof claim 11, further comprising a ridge coupled to, and extendingupwards from, the top of the rigid member.
 19. A sanding device,consisting of: a rigid member; a flexible member permanently coupledwith a bottom of the rigid member and permanently coupled with less thanhalf of a top of the rigid member using an adhesive; and sandpaperpermanently coupled with a bottom of the flexible member using anadhesive; wherein the flexible member is shaped identical to thesandpaper in at least two dimensions; wherein the flexible membercomprises a longest length greater than a longest length of the rigidmember so that the flexible member comprises a tail extending past aback of the rigid member; and wherein the flexible member comprises awidth perpendicular to the longest length of the flexible member,wherein the rigid member comprises a width parallel with the width ofthe flexible member, and wherein the width of the flexible member isgreater than the width of the rigid member so that the flexible membercomprises a pair of upper wings extending outward past sides of therigid member at the top of the rigid member and a pair of lower wingsextending outward past the sides of the rigid member at the bottom ofthe rigid member.
 20. The sanding device of claim 19, wherein the rigidmember is tapered so that a front of the rigid member is thicker thanthe back of the rigid member.